 For Your Consideration: Jim McNeely and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band Barefoot Dances and Other Visions Best Large Jazz Ensemble  Listen On  |
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“Stunning Visionary Jazz” Dick Metcalf – Contemporary Fusion
“A provocative and engaging album at a time when recording original scores with a top-notch jazz orchestra is becoming increasingly rare.” Marc Meyers – Jazz Wax “Jim McNeely is among the most celebrated big band composers of this generation…Barefoot Dances and Other Visions, is a showcase for McNeely’s work, featuring seven original compositions meant to evoke imaginary scenes sprung from the composer’s mind… it’s all but impossible to keep your limbs from shaking and your shoes from staying put.” Brian Zimmerman – JAZZIZ “If you have predisposed ideas of what a big band jazz ensemble should be accomplishing, I challenge you to listen to this new album and bask in completely new visions of sound.” The Vinyl Anachronist “McNeely fortifies his position in the upper echelon of jazz arrangers in this set of new pieces for the formidable Frankfurt Radio Big Band.” Doug Ramsey – Rifftides “With the Frankfurt Radio Big Band at his side, McNeely's big band visions with a progressive edge are given full tilt in the right direction. A singular kind of angular, muscular jazz gets melded with a fastball down the middle, sitting down jazz gets a new high water mark here. Solidly pro stuff that’s tough to beat.” Midwest Record Jim McNeely and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band Barefoot Dances and Other Visions (Planet Arts 301721)
FRANKFURT RADIO BIG BAND (HR-BIGBAND) JIM McNEELY conductor, HEINZ-DIETER SAUERBORN soprano and alto saxophones, flute, alto and bass flutes, clarinet, OLIVER LEICHT soprano and alto saxophones, flute, alto flute, B flat and alto clarinets, TONY LAKATOS tenor saxophone, flute, alto flute, STEFFEN WEBER tenor saxophone, flute, bass flute, clarinet, RAINER HEUTE baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, alto flute, FRANK WELLERT trumpet, flügelhorn THOMAS VOGEL trumpet, flügelhorn, MARTIN AUER trumpet, flügelhorn, AXEL SCHLOSSER trumpet, flügelhorn, GÜNTER BOLLMANN trombone, PETER FEIL trombone, CHRISTIAN JAKSØ trombone, euphonium, valve trombone, MANFRED HONETSCHLÄGER bass trombone, PETER REITER piano, MARTIN SCALES guitar, THOMAS HEIDEPRIEM bass, JEAN PAUL HÖCHSTÄDTER drums
Olaf Stötzler, Orchestra Manager/Producer
Axel Gutzler: Recording/Editing/ Michael Wayszak: Recording Engineer:
Barefoot Dances and Other Visions is a seven-part suite composed in 2014 for the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. Each piece expresses a different kind of fantasy. We performed it live in two concerts in Frankfurt February ’14, then recorded it in the studio in September of that year.
When I wrote this music I had been working with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band for about six years, so I knew the players quite well. The suite was written so that every one of the band’s soloists is placed in a framework that would be both familiar and challenging. Each piece features a pair of soloists, playing individually, sometimes together. Several of the pieces begin with a chamber-sized group, “in front of the curtain”. Then the curtain rises to reveal the whole band, having assumed yet another formation. Bob’s Here imagines the return of composer/trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, who died in 2011. Black Snow conjures up the vision of a normally tranquil scene, still tranquil but rendered improbably dark. Barefoot Dances are just that, something I’ve never actually done in my life. A Glimmer of Hope tries its best to be optimistic, a difficult task these days. Redman Rides Again imagines the return of the arranger/reedman Don Redman. Among other things he was known for writing fantastic clarinet trios. This piece features a real clarinet trio, and a second “trio” formed by Oliver Leicht and his harmonized clarinet. Falling Upwards: try as I may, I still find it impossible. The Cosmic Hodge-Podge offers a vision of the cosmos where galaxies are replaced by blocks of sound; super novas become solo explosions; and a single black hole emerges at the end, emitting just a smidgen of light. Jim McNeely |
Media Contact
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